A Whiff of Scandle

Can’t decide between the body massage oil and the fragrant spa candle for that aromatherapy enthusiast on your Christmas list? This year, you can try something positively scandle-ous, and give them both!

The Scandle is a paraffin-free soy candle that burns at 2 degrees above body temperature to produce a soothing body lotion suitable for skin care or massage while simultaneously scenting the air. Recently awarded the 2008 Best of Best in Spa Tools & Accessories by Skin Inc. Magazine, these clever little two-in-ones come in re-usable ceramic containers with pour spouts and boast a burn time of 30-50 hours. And, because they are made from 100% natural vegan ingredients, Scandles are as healthy for the environment as for your skin.

Olfactory Fact #201: The 21st Century Makes More Scents

Undaunted by an otherwise dismal economy, perfumers now bring more than 300 new fragrances to the market every year–that’s more in a single year than the total number of new scents introduced in the 1970s and 1980s combined!

Scent Marketing Industry Skyrockets In Crumbling Retail Economy

While historical declines in US retail sales were reported by the Commerce Department last week, investors in the scent marketing industry welcomed the news as record numbers of retailers increasingly turn to alternative methods of merchandising to boost sales.

According to Harald Vogt, Founder of the Scent Marketing Institute, industry executives are reporting a rush of new inquiries from major retailers from every corner of the retail spectrum. His view is that this activity is directly correlated to the sagging economy, and that retailers and mall operators are gearing up for a competitive holiday shopping season.

Companies already using scent to enhance sales include Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Jimmy Choo, Lane Bryant, Hallmark, Guess? and Abercrombie & Fitch, while a wider variety of specialty retailers are adopting scent strategies. The hardest hit auto industry has also started using scent to attract customers. Some Lexus and Toyota dealerships are using the tactic, and General Motors has rolled out a signature scent for their dealerships, according to Citron Arbel, CEO of Air Aroma America.

“Strategic scents have been proven to increase the shopper’s dwelling time by as much as 40 percent in a retail environment,” affirms C. Russell Brumfield, author of Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age. The book reveals dozens of studies conducted on the effects of scent on the consumer. “The science shows that specific scents can increase sales from 20 to over 90 percent in some studies,” states Brumfield. “Since the economy started to tail-spin in recent months, we’ve heard from some very big companies wanting to adopt scent strategies”

Savvy investors have also jumped into the scent marketing game. The Whiff! book covers the biggest industry players. Richard Weening, co-founder and former chairman of Cumulus Media (the nation’s second largest radio station owner) now runs one of the biggest scent marketing companies called Prolitec. Alerion Partners has invested millions in Charlotte-based ScentAir, where digital-media venture capitalist Tom Conroy took the reigns as CEO in June.

Australia-based Air Aroma has distributors in 35 countries. DMX has added strategic scent marketing to its in-store music business, and UK-based $5-billion Rentokill rolled out its newly branded Ambius subsidiary in the US and Europe earlier this year. Private research firms predict that this fledgling market will soar into billions in revenues in the coming years.

Whiff! author Brumfield sees a golden opportunity for skittish investors in this uncertain economy. Brumfield adds, “Along with real estate, when you see blood on the streets, buy stock in the next big marketing phenomenon–scent.”

Will Obama Call Off the Dogs on the Human Scent-Tracking Initiative?

C. Russell Brumfield, author of the new book Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age, warns that human scent identification technologies could prove ominous for the future privacy of U.S. citizens.
Read more

The Earth Times Takes a Whiff!

“Whiff! book author Brumfield sees a golden opportunity for skittish investors in this uncertain economy. Brumfield adds, ‘Along with real estate, when you see blood on the streets, buy stock in the next big marketing phenomenon—scent.’”

Read the whole story RIGHT HERE!

Success Formula Quotes the Whiff Guys!

”’Strategic scents have been proven to increase the shopper’s dwelling time by as much as 40 percent in a retail environment,’ affirms C. Russell Brumfield, author of Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age.”

Catch the whole Success Formula article HERE!

The Unlawyer Quotes the Whiff-Guys!

“Times are tough all over for all sorts of businesses, like retailing for instance. Some store chains, however, are not taking it sitting down and are adopting new techniques to attract business, like adding scent to the store environment.”

Read the full article RIGHT HERE!

MarketWatch Quotes the Whiff-Guys!

“While historical declines in US retail sales were reported by the Commerce Department last week, investors in the scent marketing industry welcomed the news as record numbers of retailers increasingly turn to alternative methods of merchandising to boost sales.”

Read the full story at MarketWatch Weekend Edition!

A Sting Operation

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. No matter what line of work you’re in, there’s always somebody willing to do your job for less. Just ask any unemployed K-9 in danger of losing his plush civil service job to a wasp.

Yep. A wasp. According to W. Joe Lewis of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Glen Rains of the University of Georgia, wasps can be trained in minutes to sniff out drugs, bombs, and bodies. And their sense of smell, which can detect odors as faint as one part per billion, will outperform that of a dog 100% of the time.

The two researchers discovered in 1990 that wasps are able to detect the chemical distress signals sent out by plants which are under attack by caterpillars, swarming to the plants to lay their eggs inside the unsuspecting hosts. Further study revealed that the wasps could be quickly trained to associate virtually any scent, such as chocolate or vanilla, with the presence of an available egg host or food source. “So far we’ve really looked at a wide variety of things and they’ve been able to detect everything they’ve been exposed to,” says Rains. The pair have perfected the training process to the point that they can create an association between any odor and food with only three feedings over the course of five minutes–an important factor, because wasps only live for a couple of weeks.

So, will we soon be seeing wasps straining toward crime scenes at the ends of tiny little leashes?

Not exactly, says Lewis. “What we did was approach the idea of containerizing into a little small capsule area and then pulling the air sources over them. They converge to the inlet quickly and the little camera picks up that all the little dark bodies have suddenly converged around the intake hole in this device.”

Olfactory Fact #140: Body Odor is Rarely Made In Japan

Only about 10% of the Japanese population have detectable body odor and, until recently, young men belonging to that small odiferant segment could be disqualified from military service.

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